


Selfish

by RatMonarch



Category: Vampire: The Masquerade, World of Darkness (Games)
Genre: F/M, Guilt, Hand Jobs, Introspection
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-03
Updated: 2020-12-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 20:47:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,880
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27852814
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RatMonarch/pseuds/RatMonarch
Summary: Dante thought he should be allowed to be selfish for once.
Relationships: Original Female Character/Original Male Character





	Selfish

**Author's Note:**

> All characters are OCs for a Vampire the Masquerade game I am doing with friends. I am simply posting it here for archival purposes.

“You know, I didn’t take you as the sore loser type, Dante,” Stacey huffed, crossing her arms over her chest. “Pretty lame, I’ve got to say.” 

“I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Dante said stubbornly. 

The two of them were standing in the shadows of an alleyway, smoking cigarettes. It had been a while since they’d done that together. Stacey had actually been making efforts to cut down on the habit, and the burning part of the cigarette actually made some primal part of Dante nervous. 

However, tonight, there seemed to be an unspoken agreement that cigarettes were needed to enhance the ambiance of the night. So Stacey pulled out an emergency pack she always carried with her, and Dante eagerly pilfered from her. 

As they predicted, it did help, the two of them relaxing and enjoying each other’s company, soaking in the warm night air. 

At least they had been, until Stacey began picking a fight. 

In the distance, the thrum of music coming from the club they’d left was audible, though they were too busy bickering to pay it much mind. 

“You didn’t believe me that this club would be any fun, and I bet you that you would have a good time,” Stacey explained, “And now, instead of admitting that I was right all along, you’re trying to act like you weren’t having the time of your life back there.”

There were some aspects of truth to her statement. He had indeed been skeptical of the club Stacey had invited him to. It was called ‘Pink Lemonade’ and it definitely tried to live up to its name with its eye-blinding neon pink color. It also had lemon art and decorations lining the inside. 

To him, it just seemed like a poor man’s Flamingo clone. Plus, nothing about it suggested it was his type of scene. He preferred his hangout spots dark or edgy or at least, a little bit raunchy. 

But Stacey had insisted it would be fun, and reluctantly, he gave in, figuring he could at least give it a shot. 

To be fair, the place had been better than he expected. The loud bubblegum pop music the club played was a negative at first, but Dante had eventually warmed up to it. It was cutesy and fitting and easy to dance to. 

The decor, which had seemed tacky and gimmicky at first, became charming after a while. 

Plus, the pink lemonade drink he ordered had genuinely been one of the best drinks he’d ever ordered. 

But still, despite all of that, he still felt the need to defend himself a bit. 

“I barely got to experience the club because someone got us kicked out for taking her shirt and bra off,” he pointed out. 

Okay, technically only Stacey had been kicked out, but he had followed her out. After all, what kind of friend would he be if he just left her behind and didn’t cuss at the bouncer who kicked her out? 

But that was how they ended up out here, smoking instead of clubbing. 

Stacey rolled her eyes and pouted, “Which was a bunch of bullshit! Come on, we’re all adults, we’ve all seen tits before.”

“None as powerful as yours though,” Dante offered, in an attempt to cheer her up, before taking a drag of his cigarette, ignoring the flicker of fear that shot through him as he put the cigarette to his lips. 

Stacey muttered something about how everyone was a bunch of prudes, before looking imploringly at Dante as she said, “But seriously, Dante, admit you were having fun! You even danced with me!”

Dante rolled his eyes, saying, “Ugh, fine! You win alright? I was having fun until we got dumped outside. Are you happy now?”

Stacey grinned proudly, “Very.” 

Then, pointing at him, she continued, “And as the winner, I want to cash in my prize now.”

“Prize?” Dante asked. He didn’t remember agreeing to a prize. But he would be lying if he said he wasn’t a little bit curious. “What do you want?”

A mischievous look came over Stacey’s face. Snuffing out her cigarette on the ground with her shoe, she padded over to him and leaned into his personal space. 

Voice right next to his ear, she said, “You can begin by kissing me.”

Dante blinked at the forwardness of that, but he found himself nodding anyway, quickly dropping and snuffing out his own cigarette. All things considered, a kiss was a pretty easy and enjoyable prize. He had kissed all of his groupies at least once, and with Stacey, more times than he could count. Not that he minded, kissing Stacey was fun. 

Their lips connected and almost immediately, Stacey was getting eager. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pressed her body against his so that they were standing almost impossibly close. He grabbed her hips, his hands needing to go somewhere, and dragged them forward so that they were almost grinding against each other. 

Soon, her tongue was licking at the seam of his mouth, requesting access, which Dante happily allowed. Opening his mouth, their tongues twined together, moans and groans of pleasure coming from the both of them. 

The sounds were spurring both of them on. Stacey was actually grinding against him now, which caused him to involuntarily buck his hips up a little bit. She giggled at the reaction, the sound buzzing in his lips. 

Seemingly encouraged now, Stacey began getting handsy. Her hands wandered down his neck, towards his chest, all the way to the front of his pants. He practically keened when he felt her grab his dick through her pants, pleasure shooting through his body at the sensation. 

Breaking away from the kiss, he looked at her with half-lidded eyes, and hissed, “Fuck, Stacey. That’s a low blow. Literally.”

Stacey giggled at that, and said, “I never said I played fair, Dante.” 

She gave his dick another light squeeze, causing him to jerk a bit. 

“Are you actually trying to have sex in the streets?” Dante asked in disbelief. That was crazy, even for Crazy Stacey. 

“I have given you a handjob outside before,” Stacey reminded him. 

This was true. She had, in a back alley. To be fair, however, they’d both been considerably drunker at the time. 

“If we get arrested for fucking in the streets, I don’t think Isabella will bail us out this time,” Dante said, half-joking. 

Stacey sighed in what seemed like frustration and removed herself off of him. 

Dante felt a bit of panic. Did he just ruin something? Was she taking his worries as rejection? 

Desperate to patch things up with her, he said, “H-Hey, we can Uber to your place and do stuff there. I’m totally down and I’ll pay and-”

Stacey silenced him by raising her hand up. Shaking her head, she sighed, “I’m not mad, Dante. You’re right. I didn’t come here to fuck you anyway...”

Dante struggled with simultaneously feeling disappointed and curious at the same time. Tilting his head slightly, he shoved his hands in his pant’s pockets and asked, “What did you come out for? Just to hang out?”

He wasn’t used to Stacey apparently having missions with her nights. 

Stacey nodded, “Specifically to have fun with you tonight.”

Dante found himself immediately asking, “Don’t we always have fun when we hang out together?” 

He certainly did, at least. 

Crossing her arms again, Stacey nodded, before darkly saying, “When we actually get to hang out with each other nowadays…” 

Dante raised an eyebrow. He had an idea what was spurring this on, but he hedged anyways. “What do you mean? We hang out all the time…”

“Used to,” Stacey said pointedly, “Lately though, you’ve been avoiding me.” 

There was an accusatory note in her voice. 

“Th-That’s not true!” Dante tried. 

Stacey shook her head, voice unusually serious, “I’m not an idiot, Dante. Most days you brush me off saying you’re busy when I invite you places which would be understandable the first couple of times, but seeing as you don’t even have a job…”  
Dante opened his mouth to protest, but Stacey cut him off. “You only hang out with me when the other groupies are around, and even then, you seem like you’re avoiding me for some reason. And you barely even hang out with the rest of them anymore. They’ve all noticed.”

Dante closed his mouth. The truth was, he had been avoiding Stacey and the rest of his groupies as of late. And while yes, his hands had been full with all the shit that fell on his and his coterie’s laps, he’d be lying if he said that was his only reason for avoiding Stacey and the others. 

He blamed Willow somewhat for his newfound avoidance of his friends. Granted, it wasn’t like Willow was physically forcing him not to visit the others or verbally discouraging him from doing so or anything. She had put thoughts in his head however…

He was sure she wasn’t even aware she had done anything when she had brought it up all these days ago, when they had been on the bridge together. All that talk about Blemish and the Camarilla and Stacey… it had gotten him thinking about things. A lot of things.

Stuff like what would happen if Stacey and him were to actually get in a relationship. Sure, they weren’t currently in one, but he would be lying if he said he hadn’t flirted with the idea every now and again. Stacey was his favorite groupie, and they’ve definitely gone plenty past being friendly every now and again. 

But he couldn’t do that, now could he? 

The Camarilla were pretty strict on vampire-human relationships. Even more so if the vampire in question decides to leak information in advance about Kindred society to the human.If one wanted to see what a bunch of breaches of these rules could result in, he, she, or they needed to look no further than Blemish. The scarred vampire was used as a cautionary tale by the members of the Camarilla on why not to cross Prince Raveena. 

It worked as a warning too. Every time he suddenly felt the urge to tell Stacey or any of his other groupies about him being a vampire, he would remember Blemish’s mutilated face and immediately squash that feeling dead. 

He had to remember too, that Blemish wasn’t the only one punished for his insolence. No, the human that Blemish told the information to - the human that Blemish loved - was killed, right in front of him, as punishment. Dante found that mere thought even more distressing than the face melting. 

He couldn’t imagine how he would feel if he was held down and forced to watch Stacey die, knowing it was all his fault she ended up in that position. He would never be able to live with himself. 

For the most part, excluding the incident with the Bloodbath and the fact he fed from them, he’d done a good job keeping Stacey and the other groupies out of vampire shit. He hadn’t introduced any of them to his family, for example. He kept any talk about his family to a minimum in fact. He passed off all feedings as him being wild and kinky. He didn’t even dare tease the idea of vampires existing. 

But sometimes, he liked to fantasize about the idea of Stacey being a vampire. 

Would she like being a vampire? She would probably get enjoyment out of remaining, at least in appearance, the same age forever. She was always complaining about not wanting to age. 

Plus, she would probably go crazy with any powers she might get. He could see her exploiting whatever power she got at every opportunity she could. She’d be crazy. Well, crazier than usual.

He couldn’t help but feel a glimmer of amusement at the idea of her talking to ghosts. She’d give them the most interesting conversations of their afterlives. 

But he couldn’t let his fantasy go much further. The Camarilla were not only strict about human-vampire relationships, but they were also strict on who became vampires. People were screened and tested, and as much as Dante loved Stacey, he knew for a fact she wasn’t Camarilla material. He knew if he wasn’t already a vampire, hadn’t gotten a glowing review from Phoenix, and hadn’t proven himself useful, he probably wouldn’t have made it as Camarilla material either. 

Even if by some sort of miracle, Raveena approved of Stacey, his family certainly wouldn’t. He knew from personal experience that his family didn’t approve of outsiders. The fact Antonio had even gotten him and Carlotta approved was a miracle in of itself, and part of that came from his high-standing with the family. 

Dante, with no standing at all, stood no chance of getting Stacey approved. 

He remembered with awkwardness when he brought Phoenix home to his family. They had done everything besides spit on them. 

His immediate family wouldn’t back him up either. Antonio didn’t even support his favorite child, Squalo, having a human ghoul in Bianca. And even though it was obvious to Dante at least that Squalo and Bianca were at least somewhat involved with each other, the two had to keep it on the downlow, else Squalo wanted to be punished and Bianca killed. 

Besides, even if he got his family and the Camarilla’s approval, it would be selfish to bring Stacey into this kind of life. Whether he was talking about Giovanni life, Camarilla life, or just vampire life in general, they were all full of their flaws. 

Time had proven how dangerous vampire life truly was as of late. It felt like his coterie couldn’t even go one day without encountering some crazy as fuck vampire who wanted to do them or their friends in… or at the very least manipulate the five of them into doing something for them. 

But even that aside, vampire life was complicated. One basically had to learn a whole new way of life, complete with new laws and terms, and oh yeah, you can never go in the sun again. 

Plus, while she wouldn’t be as vulnerable in her vampire form, she would be opening the door to new dangers as well simply for being bit by someone who was associated with the Camarilla alone. 

Selfish, is what it’d be to turn her into a vampire. 

But then again, wasn’t it selfish of him to even be keeping her in his life at all? And this wasn’t just limited to her either. This sentiment extended to all of his groupies. 

His life was riddled with danger, even before Gary entered his and his coterie’s life. 

For one thing, his family was dangerous to his groupies’ existence. There was a reason he didn’t introduce any of them to his family. His traumatizing experience with Phoenix wasn’t the only motivation behind his hiding them. It was mainly because his family wasn’t exactly empathetic to human life. Especially not Squalo. Squalo had killed off the last friend he was public about, and Dante had no doubt he’d do it again, just to torment him. The idea of another friend dying due to his carelessness made him sick. 

But Squalo and his family were the least of his worries most of the time. They were at least in Italy, no doubt traumatizing people there instead. Dante didn’t have to worry about them constantly anymore.

But his job as an informant for the Camarilla… that put him in some dangerous territory sometimes. Granted, most of the time, his job was simply to be an ear. He just listened and reported. Most of what he reported was so banal in nature, it couldn’t be traced back to him. 

But that wasn’t always the case. Sometimes, he had to get more involved with his missions and it put him in potential danger. That interaction with Blemish that one night was a perfect example of that. 

He nearly met his final death thanks to Blemish, and now that ex-Sabbat freak was running around free somewhere, which terrified him somewhat. 

After all, if Blemish had the sources to get intel on the fact Dante was a Camarilla informant, and even more specifically, his bane to crucifixes… then what else did he know? Did he know Dante’s friends? Would he use Dante’s friends against him in an act of revenge? The thought was terrifying.

For all he knew, Blemish had Anarch informants tracking him now, watching his and Stacey’s every move. That skeeved him out even now, and he had to mentally push the thought away for his own comfort. His eyes darted around for a moment though at every shadow… just for safety. 

Add all the enemies he made just by being associated with the Camarilla with the crazy cast of characters he’d met during his time with Gary, such as Valeriu and Anthony Crinamorte, and it was a wonder he was hanging around Stacey at all. 

With enemies around every corner, could he really afford to have friends right now? 

These were all things he’d begun to consider after his conversation with Willow on the bridge. 

So yeah, he had been avoiding Stacey and the rest of his groupies as of late. He wasn’t as active in the group chat as he used to be. He ignored a good majority of their texts nowadays. If they invited him out, he dodged it by feeding them excuses. 

Part of him wanted them to give up on him. To move on to the next big thing and forget he even existed. Even if it would hurt him. Their safety was more important to him than his feelings.

And in some ways, it seemed to be working. A majority of the group seemed to not be sending him as many texts or invitations as usual. In fact, he hadn’t heard from Cain or Holly for weeks now. 

Occasionally, he would cave and invite one of his groupies out somewhere, like Leon with the Halloween fundraiser event. However, when events like that ended with murder, it only solidified his resolve to not bring them along anywhere. 

But despite all of his best efforts to distance himself from all of his non-vampire friends, there was one person who’d never given up on him. Stacey.  
Every day she texted him or invited him out somewhere or sent him something through messages. Even when he made it a point to ignore her, she seemed to not care. She still persisted. 

That insistence and loyalty meant something to him. He knew he didn’t deserve it. Not with how shitty of a friend he was being. However, the fact she was willing to do it, despite all of that, showed that he was cared about… and that wasn’t a feeling he was entirely used to. It touched him. 

Maybe it was selfish of him, but he did want to continue being with Stacey. She made him happy, and he liked to think he did the same for her, when he wasn’t being a complete assface. 

When he was with her, she made him forget all the bullshit in his life, even if only for a little bit. 

She made him feel excited in a way that felt better than any high. 

When he was with her, he felt good. 

She was funny and crazy and fun and so many other amazing adjectives. Letting her go wouldn’t be easy… 

And he didn’t know if he could continue ignoring her, seeing how visibly upset she was by it. 

Dante found himself feeling the need to be upfront with her. Running a hand through his bangs, he sighed and looked her in the eyes, saying, “Look, Stacey… the truth is, I have been avoiding you a bit.”

He winced at the hurt he saw flicker through her eyes, but she kept her bravado, huffily saying, “Yeah, kind of knew that already, Sherlock.”

He paused, trying to figure out how best to explain himself, when suddenly, Stacey asked in a voice so quiet that he almost didn’t hear her, “Is… it my fault?”

“No!” Dante said immediately, and a bit loudly in his panic. 

Stacey looked up in surprise at his outburst, but the look was soon replaced by a skeptical one. 

“So then what is it?” Stacey asked him, her voice neutral. 

Dante sagged a little, wishing he could tell her the full truth. It would make things a lot simpler. 

But he couldn’t do that, so instead, he pitifully looked at the ground and said as much of the truth as he could, “Look Stacey, life’s been complicated. Super complicated, in fact. It’s getting to the point that I don’t know what to do about it. And quite frankly, I don’t want you to be dragged into it all. Just like you aren’t always Crazy Stacey, I am not always ‘Fun Dante’, you know?”

His voice weighed with surprising emotion. Had he been repressing shit all along? He wasn’t sure. 

He dared himself to look up and found her staring at him with an unreadable expression, before finally, it morphed into one of sympathy. 

“Oh Dante, you idiot… why didn’t you just tell me? I would’ve left you alone,” Stacey said. 

“Maybe I don’t want you to leave me alone,” Dante said immediately, surprising even himself. 

Stacey looked taken aback for a moment, before her expression morphed into a shit-eating grin. 

Then, before he knew it, he found himself practically knocked into a hug, hearing her say, “Awww, Dante, I knew you cared.”

“Now who’s the idiot? Of course I care about you, Stace,” Dante said, wrapping his arms around her waist. Despite his words, a smile was playing on his face. 

“You are crappy at showing it sometimes,” Stacey mumbled. 

“I’m sorry,” Dante said, knowing she was right. 

Stacey removed herself from the hug and determinedly said, “Well we’re not playing the ghosting game anymore. You’re going to let me help you, whether you like it or not.”

He opened his mouth again to protest, but like last time, she cut him off. Waving a dismissive hand, she said, “You don’t got to give me deets or anything, but you will allow me to at least try to help you if you’re feeling real shitty, even if it’s just by doing something stupid like sending you a picture of my fursona.”

Dante really thought about protesting. He really did. Part of him knew he should, even if it made Stacey mad. Even if it meant this friendship would end. It was for her safety. She needed to get away from him as fast as possible. 

But instead, when he opened his mouth to say something, what came out was, “Your fursona is not stupid.” 

Stacey beamed and said, “Well do I have pictures to show you then!” 

She then pulled out her phone and began showing him pictures of the drawings she had made, some made with more interesting materials than others. 

Dante half paid attention to the images she was showing, cursing himself for being so weak. 

He could only hope his weakness wouldn’t bite him in the ass later on in life.


End file.
